They called him a once-in-a-century prodigy, a man whose brilliance knew no bounds. Rudraksh Maurya excelled in every field he touched. Science bowed to his theories, art flourished under his brush, and sports courts echoed with his victories. At 24, he had achieved more than most could in a lifetime.
From an early age, Rudraksh displayed an uncanny ability to understand and master concepts others found impossible. By the time he was ten, he could solve advanced mathematical theorems. At fifteen, he broke national records in chess and sprinting. By twenty, his scientific breakthroughs in particle physics and astrophysics earned him global acclaim.
Yet, Rudraksh was not blinded by success. Deep down, he had a love for history that rivaled his scientific passion. He often pondered humanity's past, reading about the great civilizations that shaped the world. One figure, in particular, fascinated him—Ashoka the Great, the Mauryan emperor who went from ruthless conqueror to benevolent ruler.
"What would it be like," Rudraksh often mused aloud, "to walk the earth as one of them? To live, not just study, the eras I admire?"
He would imagine the heat of the Indian sun, the clang of swords on a battlefield, and the weight of decisions that shaped empires. These thoughts filled the quiet hours of his mind, though he knew they were just fantasies. Science, not time travel, was his dominion.
Until one day, it wasn't.
---
On a chilly evening, Rudraksh stood in his state-of-the-art laboratory, the air buzzing with excitement. He had been working on his most ambitious project yet—a wormhole generator. The shimmering, metallic device stood in the center of the lab, surrounded by blinking monitors and humming machinery.
"Today," Rudraksh said to himself, his voice steady with determination, "we will unravel the mysteries of time and space."
His assistant Priya watched nervously from a nearby control panel. "Rudraksh, are you sure about this? There's still so much we don't know about wormholes."
"Priya," he replied with a confident grin, "if we waited until we knew everything, humanity would still be living in caves. Science is about taking risks."
Priya sighed but didn't argue. Rudraksh's confidence was infectious, and his track record of success gave her little reason to doubt him.
As Rudraksh activated the generator, the room filled with a low hum. A glowing vortex began to form within the device, swirling with energy that seemed almost alive.
"It's beautiful," Priya whispered, unable to take her eyes off the vortex.
Rudraksh smirked. "It's not just beautiful. It's history being rewritten."
He leaned closer to the console, carefully monitoring the readings. The vortex grew larger and brighter, its energy pulsating like a heartbeat. But then, something unexpected happened.
A red warning light blinked on the control panel, and the hum turned into a loud, ominous roar.
"Rudraksh!" Priya shouted, panic in her voice. "The containment field is destabilizing!"
Rudraksh's hands flew over the keyboard, trying to regain control. "It's just a small glitch. I've got this."
But the vortex didn't agree. It began to pull at everything in the room, its energy spiraling out of control. Papers, equipment, and even furniture were sucked toward the glowing whirlpool.
"Shut it down!" Priya screamed, but Rudraksh didn't listen. He was too close to a breakthrough to stop now.
"I can fix this!" he yelled, but deep down, he knew he had made a mistake.
The vortex expanded rapidly, its pull growing stronger. Before Rudraksh could react, a surge of energy erupted from the device, engulfing the lab in blinding light.
The last thing Rudraksh heard was Priya's voice, screaming his name.
Then there was silence.
---
When Rudraksh opened his eyes, everything felt... wrong. His body felt small and weak, and the world around him was strange and unfamiliar. He tried to move but found his limbs uncoordinated, like they weren't his own.
"What... what is this?" he thought, panic creeping into his mind.
The sound of a baby crying filled his ears. It took him a moment to realize that the crying was coming from him.
"No. This isn't possible. I'm not... a baby. Am I?"
His surroundings came into focus. He was in a dimly lit room with a thatched roof. The air smelled of smoke and herbs, and the sound of murmured voices filled the space.
A woman's face appeared above him, her expression soft and loving. She held him gently, her dark eyes filled with warmth.
"Welcome to the world, little one," she said in a language that Rudraksh instantly recognized—ancient Prakrit.
Before he could process what was happening, a deep, authoritative voice spoke from across the room. "Bindusara's son is born. He shall be called Ashoka."
The name hit Rudraksh like a lightning bolt. Ashoka?
"No," he thought, his mind racing. "This can't be real. I'm not... I can't be..."
But as the days passed, the reality became harder to deny. He wasn't in his lab anymore. He wasn't even in the 21st century. He was in ancient India, reborn as a newborn baby who would one day become Ashoka the Great.
---
Rudraksh—or Ashoka, as everyone now called him—struggled to make sense of his situation. His mind, filled with the knowledge and memories of his past life, felt out of place in this ancient world. He couldn't speak, couldn't walk, couldn't even control his own body. It was infuriating.
One night, as he lay in a cradle in the grand palace of Pataliputra, he stared at the flickering flames of an oil lamp and whispered to himself, "This has to be a dream. Or a simulation. Maybe I'm dead, and this is some kind of afterlife."
But no matter how many times he told himself that, the reality of his new life became clearer with each passing day.
"If this is real," he thought, "then I've been given a second chance. A chance to live history, not just study it."
He clenched his tiny fists, a spark of determination igniting within him.
"With my knowledge of the future, I can change everything. I can shape this empire into something greater. I can... rewrite the world."
And so, the boy who was once Rudraksh Maurya began his journey as Ashoka, the future emperor of the Mauryan Empire and this time he want to build an empire which covers not only Indian Subcontinent but the whole Earth.
Image reference :-
https://discord.gg/ 8m3YM9MyKD